


Hot Coffee

by smithchuck



Category: Whose Line Is It Anyway? RPF
Genre: Hurt/Comfort, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-16
Updated: 2015-11-16
Packaged: 2018-05-02 00:42:46
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,626
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5227316
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/smithchuck/pseuds/smithchuck
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ryan reacts to an accident on the set of Whose Line.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Hot Coffee

**Author's Note:**

> From Episode 407. I always thought Ryan's reaction on the show was a bit tepid, so I did a little continuation of the scene.

_Be calm_ , Ryan told himself sharply.  **_Someone hurt Colin_** _!  The cameras are still on.  Be calm.  Be funny. **Someone hurt Colin!**_

“Really is quite hot.” Colin announced to Drew in a slightly shaky voice, his scalded hand held protectively in front of his chest.

Ryan didn’t hear Wayne’s concerned question over his own mental mantra, but he did hear Colin’s confirmation, “It’s hot.”

“I saw steam coming up from that,” Drew commented.

“Yeah,” Colin answered in a ‘no shit’ tone.

It should have been a simple game of Helping Hands.  One of their better games of Helping Hands, in fact, allowing Ryan to sensuously lick maple syrup off of Colin’s fingers.  A good game until someone had apparently thought it would be funny to have the coffee in the thermos steaming hot.  **_Someone hurt Colin!_**

“This is how crazy I am.” Drew continued.  “Watching I was wondering why Ryan wasn’t screaming when the coffee hit his hands.”

_Be calm, be funny_ , Ryan repeated to himself.  _Colin won’t thank you if you start a big scene in front of the cameras._  “A week from now people will ask me, did it hurt when you poured coffee on yourself.”  **_Someone hurt Colin!_**

“Yeah, that’s what I was thinking.”  Drew grinned.  “Why isn’t Colin going ow?”  Drew regularly mixed their names up, or simply referred to them as one entity.  ColinandRyan.  “I forgot that Colin had his hands through.”

“I had my mouth in his back, screaming.” Colin added with a pained laugh.

Ryan didn’t dare look at Colin.  That awful high-pitched stifled scream had been what finally alerted him to Colin’s agony.  Hearing that sound in his mind, if he looked at Colin right now and saw pain in his eyes, Ryan was likely to go berserk.   _Be calm, be funny._   If Colin could get through the scene when he was hurting, Ryan could make it through a few more seconds pretending he wasn’t in a rage.  **_Someone hurt Colin!_**

“I thought Ryan would be going, Oh my hand, ‘cause I thought, Ryan, are you okay?”

Ryan kept his voice to a conversational tone with difficulty.  “I didn’t feel a thing.”

“Looks like the Tickler will be out of action for quite some time.”

Finally, Ryan heard Dan call for a break and the crew entered the stage to clean up the mess that had been made.  Finally allowed to take action, he turned to his friend. 

“C’mon, let me see what you did to yourself, Captain Clumsy,” Ryan tried for a tone of amused curiosity, knowing that Colin would respond better to that than outright concern.  Even on stage, Colin didn’t really like to be the center of attention.

For a second, it looked like Colin would fight the request, then perhaps seeing Ryan’s determination, sighed and extended the injured hand to Ryan.  “It’s not really that bad, Ry.” Colin tried to reassure him.

Delicately drawing Colin’s hand closer, Ryan touched only the undamaged side.  Normally milky white, the skin on Colin’s right hand now flared bright red, blisters already beginning to form on the back and index finger.   “Fuck, Col, not that bad?  Dan!  Dan, get your ass over here!”  Reaching back, Ryan snagged their shared water pitcher and poured the whole thing over Colin’s hand, relieved to see some of the pained tightness in his friend’s face relax. 

“Ryan, we don’t have time…” Dan stalked over impatiently, then his eyes widened when he caught sight of the injury.  “Flaming hell.  Keith, get the medics over here to take a look at Colin’s hand.”

The studio always had medics standing by when they were taping with a live audience, mostly to get a large discount on the insurance rates.  Drew appeared at Colin’s side, kneeling in front of Kathy.  “Colin, you okay, buddy?”

“It does hurt,” Colin admitted in a small quiet voice.

“I’ll bet it does.” Ryan vacated his chair so the two medics would have room to work.   One of the medics pulled a bottle of sterilized water out of his pack.  “Let’s see if we can cool this down a little for you.”

The second medic leaned in to take a closer look at the damaged hand.  “Sorry, Colin, but I’m gonna have to make it a little more painful for a couple of minutes.”

Ryan laid a rough hand on the medic’s shoulder.  “What?  Why?”

“It’s the syrup.  It’s sticking to his skin and holding the heat in.  We’re gonna have to scrub it off.  I’m really sorry, Colin, but if we don’t, you’ll just end up with worse burns.”

Colin’s eyes briefly met Ryan’s, silently asking him to stay calm.  After receiving Ryan’s slight nod, Colin closed his eyes and taking a deep breath though his nose, blowing it slowly out his mouth.  “OK, go for it.”

Not wanting to see any more of his friend’s pain, and knowing his own emotions would only interfere with Colin’s stoic acceptance, Ryan stood and stalked over to the side of the room where Dan and Keith stood in a mini conference.

“OK, who the hell put out hot coffee for Helping Hands?” Ryan growled as soon as he was close enough.

Dan held out his hands placatingly.  “Listen, Ryan…”

“No, you listen to me.  This wasn’t just an accident.  Colin got hurt because someone either got careless and in which case I will ream them a new asshole or maliciously intended to hurt him.”  He stared at Dan, “In that case, I’ll kill them.”

“No one would do that to Colin.” Keith tried to reassure Ryan.

“Maybe Colin was the one who got careless,” Dan insinuated.

“Oh, no, Dan, you’re not gonna pin this on Colin.  He’s working blind out there.  That’s part of what makes it so funny.  I’m the eyes and he’s the hands.”

“Oh, really now, Ryan, he can…”

Ryan barely restrained himself from grabbing Dan’s throat.  “One more word against Colin and you’re gonna be the first one getting his butt kicked.”  Dan’s eyes widened.  “ _You_ try to pour something when you can’t see.  Besides, there’s never been anything hot on that table before.  Even the food that _should_ be hot has never been better than room temperature.”

“It was my fault.”

Ryan wheeled to find himself looking down at a young woman he didn’t recognize.  “Who are you?” he demanded.

“I’m Kim, the new intern.  I’m the one who filled the thermos.”

Finding it impossible to rage at a youngster already shaking in fear, Ryan dropped his head, taking a deep breath.  “When did you start?”

“Today was my first day,” her voice trembled.

“Don’t blame her,” another figure joined their huddle.  “I just told her to fill the thermos with coffee. I didn’t think to tell her what it was for.  Don’t get mad at her, Ryan.”

Tom certainly should have known better, he’d worked on the set since the show had started.  “Tom, what the fuck…”

“Ryan…”  A soft hand settled in the middle of his back.  Ryan knew who it was before he turned his head.

“Col…”

Colin held up his now bandaged hand.  “It feels much better now.  Todd did a good job on it.”

“You sure you’re okay?  You need to go to the hospital?”

“No, I’m fine, really.  Todd put some stuff on it and it hardly hurts at all now.  He said I should probably make an appointment with my doctor just to make sure it doesn’t get infected.”  He scanned the other downcast faces in the semi-circle around Ryan.  “Trying to figure out who’s butt to kick?”

Most of Ryan’s rage died away, both by knowing Colin was alright and the incident wasn’t deliberate.  “Just want to make sure it doesn’t happen again.”

“Okay, what’d you find out?”

“Tom didn’t tell Kim – she’s new – what the coffee was going to be used for.”

“So I got it from the craft table,” she offered.  “I’m really sorry, Mr. Mockrie.  I didn’t have any idea you’d get hurt.”

“Not your fault, Kim.”  Colin dimpled at the young woman.  “So we have a lack of communication, right?”

Ryan almost smiled.  Colin always played the peacekeeper in any dispute.  He could have worked at United Nations he was so good at it.

“I’m really sorry too, Colin,” Tom offered a hug which Colin stepped into without hesitation.  “It’s all my fault.  I’ll make sure the table gets set up right myself in the future.”

“Sounds good, Tom.”  Colin turned to Ryan, a mischievous glint in his dark eyes.  “Ry, kick his butt.”

Grinning widely, Ryan used the last of his remaining anger to land a resounding swat on Tom’s backside.  The man rubbed at his abused buttock, but smiled back ruefully.  “Okay, I deserved that.  I promise it won’t happen again.”

“Better not,” Ryan warned.  “Now we’re gonna take about ten minutes, so I can make sure Colin’s really fine.  Don’t come looking for us.”

 

Once they got into the Green Room, Ryan pulled Colin into a reassuring embrace.  “You sure you’re okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine.”  Colin rested his forehead against Ryan’s.  “Hurt like a bastard at first, but it’s not too bad now.”

Ryan dipped his head to kiss along the side of Colin’s face, down to his neck.  “When I get you home, I’ll pamper you like the wounded warrior that you are.”

Colin hummed in appreciation, his uninjured hand busy pulling Ryan’s shirt out of his pants, so he could caress the warm skin underneath.  “Sounds good.  And you’ll have to help me undress. Hard to do buttons one-handed.”

“Oh,” Ryan pressed their bodies closer together.  “There’s nothing I like more than undoing your buttons.  Should I start here?”

More than ten minutes passed before they arrived back on the set.

 

 

 

 

  

 

    

 

 


End file.
